'Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi' has been cancelled
Hockey Night in Canada, as we knew it, is gone. And now so is the Punjabi version of the iconic brand.
After 18 years on the air, “Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi” has been cancelled by Sportsnet.
“We’ve made the difficult decision to end our Punjabi-language NHL broadcasts,” a Sportsnet spokesperson told Daily Hive. “While audience levels aren’t strong enough to sustain the production long-term, we know these broadcasts have meant a lot to many Punjabi-speaking hockey fans. We’re grateful to the on-air team, production staff and viewers who supported the show over the years.”
A project that began with CBC during the 2008 Stanley Cup Final, Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi moved to Rogers-owned Omni when the NHL broadcast rights changed hands in 2014.
“For 18 years, this show brought our community closer to the game we love. It shared the stories of South Asian players and families and created a space that was truly unique in Canadian sports. We are incredibly proud of what we built together,” reads a statement from Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi.
“To our viewers: THANK YOU! Your love, support, and unwavering loyalty meant everything to us. You welcomed us into your homes, shared your stories with us, and made this show what it became. We are grateful for every moment we shared with you.
“Thank you for being part of our family.”
The move to Omni gave the team, which broadcasted from a studio in Vancouver, a bigger budget. But it wasn’t until the Stanley Cup Final in 2016 that the program really took off.
Harnarayan Singh’s call of Nick Bonino’s game winner late in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final went viral, with the play-by-play man quickly and repeatedly shouting “Bonino Bonino Bonino.”
*Blesses your timeline* #BONINOBONINOBONINO@IceSinghHNIC @RandipJanda @HarpPandher @BhupinderHundal pic.twitter.com/07TXfKje21
— Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi (@HkyNightPunjabi) May 31, 2016
The call gave the show notoriety, even among fans that don’t speak Punjabi. It even resulted in the Pittsburgh Penguins inviting broadcast crew of Singh, Randip Janda, Harpreet Pandher, and Bhupinder Hundal to their Stanley Cup parade.
.@penguins fly @HkyNightPunjabi broadcasters to Pittsburgh to meet Bonino/attend Cup paradehttps://t.co/dlScWQ3krk pic.twitter.com/7rEi2n6sXv
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) June 15, 2016
The Bonino call was just one example of how the team found fun ways to present hockey to the Punjabi community.
“Most of our stuff is actually off-the-cuff,” Singh said of the broadcasts in a 2016 interview with Daily Hive. “We love our sense of humour and the Punjabi community is very loud, they like their music, they like their food, and they love their humour. So all of us try to incorporate all those characteristics and if one guy takes the music thing, the other guy will take humour angle, we put it all together and obviously provide analysis as well. So you put it all together and I think that’s why the community has come to love it.”
Singh later made the move the main Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, calling games in English. Janda landed a job as colour commentator on Vancouver Canucks radio broadcasts.